Faculty in the School of Architecture will travel to China and Taiwan later this month to network and review the portfolios of potential foreign architecture students.

The move, which marks the first step in a plan to expand the School of Architecture globally, comes because many applicants of the School of Architecture are from China and Taiwan, among many other countries. SU is seeking connection with these global applicants, said Michael Speaks, dean of the School of Architecture.

The school is also going abroad because foreign students often find it difficult to ship portfolios and artwork, atop test scores and letters of recommendation, on time, Speaks added. By having faculty members in countries like China, applicants can have those materials viewed in their home country, he said.

Thirty to 35 percent of the School of Architecture’s undergraduates are international students, with 90 percent of students studying abroad, Speaks said.

On Oct. 31, Speaks will travel to Taipei City in Taiwan to hold a discussion with David Tseng, professor of architecture and the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan.

In their discussion in Taiwan, titled “Contemporary Architecture Education,” Speaks and Tseng will “talk about architecture globally, what is the practice of architecture today, what is happening in Taiwan,” Speaks said.

“We will talk about Syracuse and the partnership that NCTU and SU has,” Speaks said. “We’ll talk about the connection between Taiwanese and Western architecture, the differences and similarities.”

Tseng said he has publicized this open discussion in professional architecture magazines and journals in Taiwan.

“It will be known to architecture students all over Taiwan, and hopefully will benefit not just NCTU students, but the whole of Taiwanese students,” Tseng said.

For NCTU students in Taiwan, this visit is not a link to just SU, but to American universities in general.

“For the students, it’s an incredible educational opportunity,” Tseng said. “Not many students have the ability to listen firsthand from an American university’s dean of how to prepare their portfolio and how to present it to the school.”

On Oct. 16, 17 and 18, the School of Architecture’s Vittoria Buccina, director of undergraduate recruitment; Ted Brown, professor and undergraduate chair; and Fei Wang, assistant professor and visiting critic, will travel to Shanghai for a trip similar to that of Speaks’, according to an SU news release.

Brown will present a lecture, followed by a discussion at the Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning. At the university, he, Wang and Buccina will host an academic presentation about the School of Architecture, review portfolios and hold a reception open to alumni in the area, according to the release.

With the increasingly large amount of international applicants, professors, deans and visiting critics of the School of Architecture will also make trips to Puerto Rico, South America and India soon.

“The profession of architecture is a global one,” Speaks said. “We like to be out in the world and we like for the world to come to SU.”

Published on October 7, 2015 at 10:21 pm

Contact Anjani: asiman@syr.edu